


bittersweet

by bythegleamofalantern



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Set After Season 3, but anyways, claudia's birthday!but sad!, it's touched on!, latine/latino brodigies, mixed brodigies, this is basically an introspective fic that's sad and claudia focused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bythegleamofalantern/pseuds/bythegleamofalantern
Summary: a lot can change in a year.
Relationships: Claudia & Aaravos, Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Viren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> hello again it's me  
> i had a lot of claudia feelings after this season so i had to let them out...i always thought about the possibility of her birthday being around the same time as the final battle so this came about

A cave wasn't the best way to spend her 16th, putting it mildly. If it hadn't been for her spells to generate light and heat, she would be stumbling alone in the dark and damp instead of just stumbling alone.

Claudia hadn't even been keeping track she'd just only recently kept track of the date during the invasion. Not wanting to make a big fanfare of the event, she hadn't even reminded her father. Uncharacteristic of her, of course. (How many times would she drop hints to both Viren and Soren that her birthday was coming up, keep track of the days and cunt down eagerly?)

She chalked it up to having more important things to worry about. Stopping the Xadians from advancing, saving humanity. Those were noble goals, important goals.

(Her father **was** noble, was he not?)

It's a far cry from last year. She still remembers the taste of that cake, of the honey and spices and glaze, of the black dress her mother had made to fit her, of Callum and Ezran and Soren's laughter lighting up the smaller dining hall in the castle, of even her father letting out a small but perceptible grin of his own. It brings a smile to her face to remember those times, if only briefly.

The way her mother hugged her, made it from Del Bar to see her. Her _I missed you, mija. You're so much bigger now... So beautiful. Like me._

But Claudia was never really like her mother, save for her looks. (Soren had gotten their mother's thick blond hair but Claudia had gotten everything else.) No, she was her father. Ingenious, calculating, loyal to her family when it counted.

That was a good thing, right?

Her father was a man with flaws, yes. His anger was frightening but he had good intentions. Saving humanity. Isn't that the moral thing to do? After Xadians, those elves and dragons, had forced them out of the magical and beautiful and fertile lands they and their children had a right to? For daring to rise above what they were given?

She's just sad none of her friends, not even her brother, can understand. Sad and confused. And angry.

Is she mad at the circumstances? Is she mad at herself for not being able to get him to stay? Or is she mad at **Soren**? 

S ~~oren killed our father.~~

~~ Soren killed his father. ~~

~~ Soren killed my father. ~~

Soren's gone, and she should be glad. But she can't stop... can't stop thinking about him, in her head. Soren was always the one who made her birthdays bright and happy affairs... somehow it feels incomplete not having him around on this day. The way he always had.

Maybe she just feels unwhole without her brother.

Claudia takes a deep breath, sighing. 

She's lost, lost the war and lost most of what she had. But that's war. You lose, even sometimes things and people you never thought you would. Sometimes all you can do is pick up the pieces. 

And sometimes, that's literal.

It hurts, looking at her father so... So... cold. So... broken. It's all she can do to try and assemble what bits she can.

"I'm bringing you back." She replies to Viren, or what's left of what he used to be, who he used to be. Her voice is hoarse but determined to herself. It reverberates and echoes, with no other sound than the sound of an insect scurrying and scuttling around. (Was that the creature who'd been on her father's shoulder the whole time?) Claudia stands up, straight, a bag of magic supplies in tow. 

"Whatever it takes."

And really, what good was power if you couldn't use it to save those who loved?

**Author's Note:**

> i want to give claudia a hug but also damn girl you brought this kind of on yourself... she's such an interesting character though, one that i would love to explore more and am planning on giving a bigger role to in my other fic honey and wildfire... my baby...
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoyed!please comment if you liked or want to add some of your concrit!also feel free to leave kudos if you liked


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